- Minnesota led the nation in penalty prevention with just 340 yards in penalties last year. MSU took on 139 yards -- 40.8 percent of Minnesota's total last year -- in one game.

- Kentucky had 300 yards of offense, averaged fewer than 5 yards per play, converted just three of its 10 third downs and beat a ranked team by 21. What a weird game.

Obscure facts

- Is it possible Benny Snell Jr. was actually just above average last night? 25 carries for 165 yards and four touchdowns sounds Herculean -- and it is, to be clear -- but 101 of those yards came on four carries. Without those carries, Snell averaged 3.04 yards per carry. (Granted, two of those carries were for touchdowns.)

- MSU punted more against Kentucky (8) than it did in the three games prior (5). Also, MSU punted eight times and did not return a single one of them.

What about this game will be remembered in January?

I'm going to show some faith in the future of MSU's line play and label it as such: The one-game aberration to end all one-game aberrations.

Quoting Joe Moorhead

- "We haven't talked about Florida at all. If you're asking if we were looking ahead, we were not looking ahead."

- On penalties: "It was a lack of composure. Certainly we corrected it from Week 2 after the 11 (penalties), we were on the right path. We talked in the preseason about showing our emotions but not being emotional and we didn't do that today, and once again that's on me. That's my responsibility and we'll get it fixed."

Quoting the Bulldogs

- Brian Cole on his interception: "Honestly what gave it away was the Kentucky sideline, that's what made me get my head up and look. God took care of the rest."

- Nick Fitzgerald: "We didn't really establish a run game, so we kind of had to establish a pass rush and give them credit, they have an incredible pass rush. They applied a lot of pressure. It happens, you know?"

- Fitzgerald on Kentucky's coverages: "They kept it interesting, they changed it up a lot. Not nearly as much man as we thought there would be, just a bunch of one-high and two-high zones."

Quoting Kentucky

- Coach Mark Stoops on Benny Snell Jr.'s response to trash talk through the week: "We shouldn't need that motivation, but Benny, he'll use anything to motivate him. And that's a good thing. He's always ready, that's the beautiful thing about Benny, he may get a little fired up -- and he's fun for you guys because he might get talking a little bit, but that's fine, y'all need to get some sound bites, as well, I realize that."

- Stoops: "It was great team defense. We really did a nice job -- like I said, we weren't overly complex but we had some good things for him and our players did a nice job of disguising and were really on point with them looking and changing. They want to know what you're in a lot and our players really did a nice job of having confidence in their disguises and when to come down and when to get movements and then it just comes down to tackling and covering."

- Safety Mike Edwards: "It proves what we are defensively. I feel like we played lights out except for that big play we gave up for them to get seven points. We really shut them out.

- Running back Benny Snell Jr. on the chatter through the week: "I don't want to say I love it, because this is an every week thing. The titles in the media, they get put a certain way, and then another team, this happened three weeks in a row, another player, they feel like they're being targeted, so they want to say something. I'm proud and happy about this offense, we can go against anybody and I'm just speaking facts."